Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sally
The cove fire. Between Sandalwood beach and Rixon Shore.
Lo and behold, there’s a little path that leads through a wooded area littered with dead trees.
The night air is humid, clinging to my body like a second layer of skin.
I replaced my skirt and long-sleeve shirt with a tie-dye sports bra and light-blue beach shorts.
Showing off skin has always been natural for me, but I was hesitating when getting dressed for this.
When I was looking in the bathroom mirror, Mimi looked at me, seeing my hesitation. She has a short-sleeve white shirt with a pink dress layered over it. Her normal going-out look.
“It will be dark, and people are probably already drunk. Don’t worry,” she says, reading my mind.
We aren’t even in the clearing yet, but the sound of the lake tide comes in along with the array of music.
It only takes a minute of following the path to land us in a clearing full of people.
Right in the middle of the sandy cove is a huge bonfire with heat radiating even to the tree line.
There are also little fires around the area with tree logs used as makeshift benches.
Slightly buried in the sand stands two large kegs with two guys in unbuttoned green and blue Hawaiian shirts pouring drinks.
They are obviously proud of their bodies, and they should be.
The light of the fire illuminates both of their abs gloriously.
“You guys showed up!” a familiar voice makes its way over to my ear, even over the waves of music and partying bodies. Casey makes her way over to us, looking almost too happy to see us.
“I’ve never been to a beach party before.” Leon gleams, just as happy.
“Let’s get y’all something to drink, and my friends and I have a separate fire. If you are here for a little bit, you might as well get to know some locals.” Little did she know I had been a local for twelve years.
She leads us over to the kegs as the Hawaiian-shirt guys pour us some drinks.
“Here you go, beautiful,” Green Shirt says, raking his eyes over my body.
My body still feels clammy from the humidity, but now I feel the need to close in on myself. I’ve never been good at taking compliments, but the dude won’t take his eyes off of me. Can he even see the way my face is twisting, or is he just oblivious?
Green Shirt even makes an attempt to touch my hand, but I step out of his reach as a wave of nausea hits my stomach.
These two must share a brain cell because Blue Hawaiian Shirt wraps his arm around Ella’s shoulders and pulls her close, trying to whisper something in her ear. The words never leave his lips, though, as Ella stomps down on his foot and shoves him away.
The drunk asshole only moves a few feet as his face turns red with both embarrassment and anger. The asshole steps forward. “That hurt, you fucking bitc–”
His voice cuts off as a pair of broad shoulders and shaggy blond hair stands between my sister and Blue Shirt. The asshole’s mouth snaps shut, and a look of fear flashes in his eyes.
Green Shirt also backs away from me. They both turn back to the kegs as they mutter something under their breath.
The guy who intervened turns toward Ella, looking her up and down. His stern expression that scared the assholes morphs into a sheepish grin, almost like it is contorting back to its original shape.
“Sorry about that, ladies. Some of the guys here have no manners.” His eyes don’t leave Ella, though, as she scowls up at him.
Ella hates being saved more than anything.
“I had the situation handled.” Ella scoffs, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
The man’s shaggy blond hair shifts as his brow rises up in question, but the smirk doesn’t leave his face. Getting a good look at him, he’s incredibly handsome with a sharp jawline, and piercing blue eyes. Though, stuff like that won’t affect Ella. It’s almost like she’s immune to anyone’s charm.
“Thanks for stepping in, Jaxon.” Casey steps forward, taking Jaxon’s gaze from Ella.
“Of course, Case,” he says simply and then turns back toward a different fire and stalks off.
Casey watches him for a bit and then shakes her head. She looks over at us with a grin “So it just occurred to me that I don’t know your names.”
“Ella,” my sister says calmly and then points at each one of us. “Sally, Mimi, and Leon.”
I follow Casey as we all walk toward what I assume are her friends.
“Jaxon, you can’t just walk off like nothing after saying you like country Taylor more than Evermore Taylor,” a curvy girl with dark brown braids pulled out of her face with a headband calls over to us.
“He’s just trying to rile you up, baby.” A guy in a gray hoodie with black twists falling over his forehead wraps his arms around the girl and pulls her into his chest. Almost immediately, her body relaxes into his.
“Are these your new friends, Case?” the girl calls out to us again.
“You know I could never replace you. I’m still planning to steal you from Tyler.” Casey winks at them. “Guys, these are the siblings I was telling you about,” Casey announces as we reach the fire. “Everyone, this is Piper, my bestie, and her boyfriend, Tyler.”
“Why am I always introduced as the boyfriend?” Tyler asks.
Casey ignores him and then turns toward the blond from earlier, now holding a bottle of tequila.
“You kind of met Jaxon, but he’s our resident punk mechanic.”
“Merde, why are all of the guys here so hot?” Leon says under his breath.
“Then, lastly, we have Mister Flirt over there, Oliver.” My pulse quickens as my eyes dart to the driftwood log. A guy with shaggy brown hair stands up, and my mind must betray me because his eyes glaze over all my siblings but linger on me.
Oliver?
Couldn’t be. Could it?
Out of anyone in this town, he would be the one to recognize me.
He flashes us a smile, but his eyes stay on me. I’m thrown back in time because this is my Oliver. The hero that shut out my parents’ screams until I was whisked away.
He walks into the light of the fire, his sea-green eyes glowing with the embers flying around the empty space. I remember those eyes like I just saw them yesterday.
The thought of running into his arms and screaming, I missed you! flickers through my mind. I can’t do that. Can I? Maybe he won’t even recognize me, and I’ll just be the crazy girl who hugged a stranger.
“How long are y’all in town?” His deep voice sends a shiver down my spine. I left before puberty hit for either of us. Thank you, puberty, for hitting Oliver with a bus.
I can’t breathe, much less answer him.
“Just a few weeks to handle some family stuff,” Ella speaks up.
“Well, might as well party like you’re leaving tomorrow.” Jaxon pulls up a bottle of tequila, raising it up and then taking a pull before shaking his head and letting out the most dude-bro sound I’ve ever heard. “Who’s up next?”
“Me!” Cheers Leon, walking forward as Jaxon hands him the bottle.
I cringe. Leon can get out of hand sometimes.
“Leon,” Ella warns.
“Oh, come on, Ella, right?”
My sister nods.
“Ella, let the boy live a little.”
Leon doesn’t wait for Ella to say anything as he takes a long pull of the tequila, nearly choking on the liquor.
“Hell yeah, that will put some hair on your chest!” Jaxon cheers, wrapping his arm around my little brother’s slender shoulders and pulling him in tight. “I like you already, little dude.” He hands the bottle over to Ella. “You’re up next.”
She examines it for a minute before taking the bottle. “Fuck it.” She takes a swig before coughing. “God, I hate tequila.”
I stop paying attention as my eyes and mind drift back to Oliver standing in front of me. Suddenly, a blonde girl is at his side, and my stomach drops as she traces his bicep with a finger, but then his eyes land on me again, raking his gaze up and down.
I don’t know what to do. His stare freezes me in place, but then he looks at the blonde girl and gives her a dazzling smile.
I can’t breathe.
“I need some fresh air,” I say to no one. “I’ll be right back.”
Not waiting for a response, I make a beeline for the lake.
I can’t leave Alliance until I figure out what to do with the house, and I can’t do that without finding the letters. Everything else is just complicating the matter and should mean nothing at all.
You won’t stay long enough to even care. Seeing Oliver again doesn’t change that. We are completely different people.
But if we’re different, why is his smile the same?
“You doing okay?”
The sudden voice causes my body to jump. My head whips around to see Oliver walking toward me. My flight instinct almost kicks in, but my feet cement me to the sand.
Oliver rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”
I wave him off because the ability to talk is still eluding me.
“Are you from around here?” he asks, knocking the wind out of my lungs.
With a swallow, even though my mouth is drier than a desert, I choke out, “No, I’m from Darien. It’s a few hours from here.”
“Have you ever been to Alliance before?” How was I going to answer this question? He raises a brow at my lack of an answer.
“Nope, first time.” The first of many lies.
“You know, there was air by the fire, but I get it. Staring out onto Lake Michigan is pretty awesome.”
I almost say that I’ve missed the view.
“I like your hair, by the way,” he says, turning to look at me, but I find myself unable to look away from the lake. Like if I look at him, all of this will be ruined. “The pink looks really good with the blonde.”
“Thank you,” I say meekly.
“Have you never seen one of the great lakes before? You haven’t looked away this whole time.”
“Yes, I’ve seen all of them before. I’ve just missed it,” I answer honestly.
“Have you ever been surfing?” he asks.
“On a lake? Isn’t that solely an ocean thing?” I answer. “I highly doubt anyone can actually surf on a lake. There’s not enough–”
My breath hitches when I forget to keep looking at the water and make the mistake of looking at Oliver. His sea-green eyes darken with some sort of intensity.
“If you really think you can’t surf on a lake, how about you come back tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I teach kids surf lessons, and I’ve been told I’m a pretty good coach, so maybe I’ll give you a free lesson.” He winks at me with a grin. “Give me your number, and I’ll send you the location.”
Then it hits me.
Oliver Moore.
Oliver Moore, my childhood best friend, is flirting with me.